THE BATTLE OF TWO CHAIRS
KELLY LI
Fuctionalism or Aestheticism?
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hairs are familiar objects – an article for everyday use. When designers design a chair, the chair echoes the history of the period it was designed in. It tells stories. This is the story between two chairs: the lounge wood chair (LCW), by Charles and Ray Eames in 1946, and the red and blue chair, designed by Gerrit Rietveld in 1923. The battle between functionalism and aestheticism. A chair is considered to be well designed when it fits the principle of functionalism. Functionalism in the sense that it should comfortably support the sitter. For many years, chair designers have been battling to combine both creativity of form and the design’s homage to the functionality of a chair during the design process.
charles & ray eames
“t h e l o u n g e w o o d c h a i r”
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During an interview, Charles Eames stated, “If one compares my chairs with those of Rietveld, then mine are much more naive. Rietveld started out from intellectual conceptions to which he subordinated the facts and the reality. We, on the other hand, were completely taken in by the facts, by the immediate reality. He continued, “A chair in the first place is something (a gadget) to sit on, and therefore should be comfortable. Aesthetic consideration did not come first to us.” Within this comparison, Charles was able to clearly share the Eames vision on designing furniture that seemingly connected to the natural world through their use of honest materials to create the ordinary into modern elegance and comfort.
“a chair is something to sit on”
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“the chair of the century”
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“story of the lounge chair wood”
Before the LCW was termed by TIME magazine as “The Chair of the Century,” it was a failure. In 1940, Charles Eames and his friend, Eero Saarinen, entered the “Organic Design in Home Furnishings Competition” hosted by the Museum of Modern Arts. Their design won the competition despite the fact it was impossible to produce at that time. Their attempt to create a single shell that would be comfortable and quickly mass-produced using plywood was unattainable. Plywood did not withstand the stresses produced at the chair’s seat and back. The beginning of World War ll put a halt on the project and eventually, Saarinen left the project due to frustration with production.
Chair Shell Experiments, design molded plywood, metal,
Chair Designed by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen for the "Organic Design in Home Furnishings" Competition, designed 1940, molded plywood, wood, foam rubber, and fabric.
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Lounge Wood Chair Plan, 1951
ned 1941-45, , and rubber.
1952 ad for Herman Miller Furniture for the LCW. “America’s most famour modern chair can now be yours for only $25.”
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he finishing of the LCW was put on halt until Charles met Ray, originally a painter, who shared his same passion, determination, and the same dream of mass production. As they moved to Los Angeles to start a new life, they were able to gain a new way of understanding design and creation. As Eames Demetrios, grandson of Charles and Ray, stated, “This time, Charles would learn how to make it before he decided what it looked like.�
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Kazam! machine in Eames Apartment, Los Angeles, 1942
The newlyweds immediately began to figure out how they could mass-produce molded plywood furniture with complex curves. From many trials and errors, they created the “Kazam! machine.� Simultaneously with the start of World War ll in 1941 and a need for a replacement of the standard metal splints used to brace wounded soldiers, the Eames took on a new challenge, which led to the Molded Plywood Splint in 1943.
Molded Plywood Splint, 1943
Label Designed by Ray for World War II. Molded-Plywood Leg Splints, paper.
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hrough the knowledge gained from designing for the US military, Charles and Ray arrived at an alternate solution: create two separate pieces for the seat and backrest, joined by a plywood spine and supported by plywood legs. The wide, low-slung seat invites you to sink in as it molds to your body. Elastic rubber shock mounts were used to connect each component as well as to provide the seat with flexibility. Contrasting an age of heavy and complex furniture, the 1946 Eames design was sleek, honest, comfortable and beautifully simple, an icon of modern design.
GERRIT RIETVELD The Red and Blue Chair designed by Dutch designer, Gerrit Rietveld in 1923 was also considered an icon. Although iconic, it does not represent a well designed chair. Differing from the Eames’ philosophy when designing a chair, he focused on creative and visual forms.
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Architect Gerrit Rietveld was one of the principle members of the “De Stijl� movement in 1919, which embraced the philosophy of abstract, simple aesthetic centered around basic visual elements that includes geometric forms and primary colors. Composition ll in Red, Blue, and Yellow, Piet Mondrian, 1930
Vertical Composition with Blue and White, Piet Mondrian, 1936
Composition A, Piet Mondrian, 1923
Composition in White Black and Red, Piet Mondrian, 1936
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“STORY OF THE RED A CHAIR” As a result, Rietveld represented the chair as a pure abstraction by reducing its pieces to essential forms and used colors red, blue, and yellow with hints of black and white. Similarly, to Charles desire for the LCW chair to be affordable, Rietveld also wanted a chair that would be able to be mass-produced.
The Red and Blue Chair consists of straight boards and battens built out of standard lumber sizes available at the time. Rietveld avoids the use of natural form, which the Eames favored in order to emphasize physical comfort and to allow a person to sink into the chair.
Red and Blue Chair in the Schröder house, 1924
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AND BLUE
Red and Blue Chair prototype, 1917-18, unpainted wood
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“AWAKENING T H E C O N S C I O U S N E S S ”
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lthough the simplicity use of materials was great, the chair did not provide the functionalism of comfort that defined a well designed chair. Rietveld felt a chair should not be used to retire from the world or get away from thought. “We must remember,” he said, “that sit is a verb too.”
“SIT IS
A V E R B T OO”
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Red and Blue Chair, Gerrit Rietveld, c. 1923, 34 1/8 x 26 x 33” (86.7 x 66 x 83.8 cm), seat h. 13” (33 cm), painted wood
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ietveld designed a beautiful work of art of “spatial creation” that designated a sculpture in space rather than a piece of furniture. Rietveld’s chair represents a different purpose of a chair than the one that the public has believed for many years. Perhaps Rietveld designed with the idea of “awakening the consciousness” and thus created a beautiful sculpture. On the contrary, The Eames designed a chair that’s innovative, sophisticated, modern, and functional at the same time. The manipulation of playwood welcomes the sitter as his/her body molds into the chair. “What . . . works is better than what looks good,” Ray Eames once said in an interview. “You know, what looks good can change, but what works works.” Charles and Ray Eames has created a timeless piece of furniture.